Irregular (mlm)

Chapter 8

After lunch, Owen was in the kitchen cleaning up from making a sandwich for himself and warming up some leftover soup for Kai. He had taken one look at the sandwich meats and condiments and said he didn't think he'd be able to eat it, but Owen was happy to get him a bowl of soup instead.

Now he was lying in the living room in a patch of sun, in his wolf form, dosing off. Owen was happy he was able to come out of his corner. It seemed that was his safe space, but he worried the wolf would be too isolated if he spent all his time there.

Owen was caught out of his thoughts when his phone rang. He wiped his hands on a kitchen towel and looked at the screen, but he didn't recognize the number. He picked it up and held it between his ear and his shoulder as he continued to dry dishes. "Hello?"

"Hey, it's Alice. This is Owen, right?"

"Yep. How'd you get my number?"

"Amy gave it to me." She paused. "How's Kai?"

"He's okay. He's eating more and he slept through the night I think." Owen glanced at him, he was still dozing off. "Why haven't you come to see him?"

"Well, that's why I called." Owen had a hard time hearing her as some commotion started and overlapping voices clouded the speaker. "Shit, hold on."

He waited a few moments until the voices faded and he heard a door closing. "Alice?"

"Sorry. I stepped out of the room and the halls here are loud as fuck."

"Where are you?"

"A hospital." She took a shaky breath. "A friend of mine was mugged last night. I need to stay in town for a few days. I won't be able to come see Kai until I can get away."

"Damn, your friend okay?"

"They're beat up pretty bad, but they're alive." She sounded so tired. "I called cause I didn't want to leave Kai wondering where I was. Can I talk to him?"

"Uh, yeah, give me a sec." He lowered the phone and looked towards the living room. "Kai? Your sister is on the phone."

He lifted his head and blinked a few times, then stood up and shifted. Owen passed the phone over to him and he held it to his ear. "Alice?"

*****

"Hey, Kai."

Kai was relieved when his sister sounded okay. He was worried she was hurt when she called randomly. "Everything okay?"

"Not really." Her voice shook and he wanted to be able to comfort her. "My friend... actually, my partner was mugged last night. They're beat up pretty badly."

Kai frowned. "Are they okay? What happened?"

"They work at the bar with me and they were covering my shift while I drove home and when they closed up around three in the morning some guys jumped out and beat them up and stole their bag." She swallowed and he heard it through the phone. "I need to stay here for a few days. The police are trying to find who did it but the cameras outside the bar were turned off somehow and we have no footage of it."

Kai felt a pit in his stomach. "Do you think... could it have been dad?"

She was silent for a few seconds, then she cleared her throat. "No. No he would've gone after me, right?"

"I don't know." Kai didn't want to think about how bad this could've been if it was their father. "He's been unpredictable lately."

She sighed and it sounded like she was rubbing her face. "In any case, I need to stay here. They're still in the hospital for observation and I can't leave them.  I'm sorry, Kai."

"No, it's okay. Stag with them." He paused, then asked, "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm okay. Shaken up and worried and pissed at whoever did this but I'm okay."

That was good, at least. "Okay. Call if you need anything, okay? I know you probably can't talk for much longer."

"Thanks, Kai. I will."

They both didn't speak for a moment, then Kai asked hesitantly, "Alice?"

"Yeah?"

"What's they're name? Your partner, I mean."

"Bailey. They're names Bailey."

"That's pretty." He smiled. "Can I meet them? Once everything has been dealt with, I mean. I don't want to put you or them in danger."

"Oh course, Kai. I'd love for you to meet them." He could hear her smile through the phone. "I'll send a picture of us for now, okay? To Owens phone."

"Okay. I'd like that."

"Well, I should go. Bailey will be wondering why I've been gone so long. I'll talk to you later, Kai. I love you."

"Love you too."

Alice hung up the phone and a few seconds later Owen got a text from her number. Kai opened it and found a picture of his sister and her partner.

Alice was dressed up in a leather jacket, a crop top, and a leather skirt with fishnets and the other person was wearing a brightly colored top with a very deep v-neck and a pair of short sports shorts. Their hair was black and had shaved sides, but the middle was curly and poofy. They had darker skin than Alice, as well as multiple tattoos on their arms and legs and one that showed through the v-neck. Alice had her arm around their shoulders and Bailey was hugging her waist with one arm. Kai smiled. They were cute together.

Owen looked over his shoulder. "Is that the friend?"

He nodded. "Alice sent me a picture. This is Bailey."

"Oh, cute. Alice looks nice in this photo."

"Yeah." Kai handed his phone back. "Thanks for letting me use the phone. Alice might call again soon."

"I'll save her number, then." He clicked a few things on the screen and used a zoomed in grab the photo she sent as her profile photo.

"Thank you."

"Yea, it's no problem." Owen put his phone into his pocket and walked back into the kitchen to put away the last of the dishes.

Kai sat on the sofa stiffly, not used to being on such a plush surface while in human form. His father never allowed anything remotely comfortable in the warehouse, besides his blanket. All of the furniture was mostly lab equipment or old office chairs Kai never touched.

It was strange, but he liked it. He just wasn't sure how to sit in it properly. He'd have to watch how Owen did it to learn.

Kai moved from the couch and shifted, then laid back down in the patch of sun coming through the window and closed his eyes. It was warm and comfortable, and he could probably fall asleep like this.

In fact, he dozed off within a few minutes of lying there and Owen just watched and smiled from his place in the kitchen.